Rain-water filter.



I. N. PICKETT. RAIN WATER FILTER. APPLIUATION FILED 2113.9, 1912.

Patented J uly 1 constructed and IRA N. PICKETTLOF ODELL, NEBRASKA.

RAIN-WATER FILTER.

Specification of Letters Patent. y Application filed February 9, 1912. Serial No.

Patented July 16, 1912. 676,581.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be. it known that I, IRA N. PmKErr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Odell, in the county of Gage and State of 5 Nebraska, have 4invented certain new and useful Improvements vin Rain-Water Filters,

of which thefollowing is a specification,

reference being Malta-.the accompanying drawings. Y( n t y v f This inventionfoompifehends: certain new and use fulr'improyements in'filters and relates particularly to v.cistern or rain-water filters, the inventionxhaving for its primary `object 2a lter, ythe parts -ofxwhich are so arranged that the sediment which flows iilto the filter with the first water from the shower, maybe directly re'- moved from the filter without passing to or through'the filtering medium, whereby all 20 tendency to clog up the'filtering screens and the granular or similar material disposed between them, will be avoided.

`,The invention also has for its objecta lsimple, durable and efficient construction of up-'flow filter, whereby the sediment will be,

f to valarge extent, caught by the lower faces of thesoreens forming `part of the filtering devieear whereby such sediment may be f easily 4,removed from the filtering casing b ofthe filter, the filter 'the sediment which passes into AFig-2 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof. Fig. 3 1s a fragmentary sectional'view on an enlarged scale designed to show the preferred format1on of the parts of the ltering boxesor. compartments, and, Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view vthrough the casing of the apparatus, the section being taken in a plane immediately above one of the filteringcompartments.'

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated:

in the accompanying drawing by like reference characters.

Considerable difiiculty has vheretofore* been experiencedv in the use of rain-water that hasy flowed from the roofs of buildings, owing to the fact that the proper filtration ofthe water has beenaccompanied by considerable difiiculty, and this is particularly so. when the water from the roof directly enters the filter, that is, lthe first water of a shower, owing to the fact that considerable sediment has become deposited in the eaves troughs or gutters and in the pipes leadin from the down spouts to the filter. With a knowledge of these conditions, my improved filter is so constructed and arranged that n Vthe filter with the first water cfa shower will be directly vented therefrom. After this first v30 a downward .flushing water flows .into the filter, the succeeding fiow will then `cause the water to rise upwardly through the filter, through a system of filtering materials lwhich catch the sedi'- ment and prevent it from flowing to the cistern or other reservoir. The filter is so .belngpractically automatic in the cleansing process.

The invention also has for its object a simvple device of this character, the'. parts of 35-which are so arrangedY that they may be `1 easily taken apart for the purpose of rel f plenishing the, supply of clean gravel, chararranged that a compartment 1s provlded 1n' `ipoal, or other filtering media, or for the purthe upper portion thereof so that when the poseof washing the parts or sterilizing them rain ceases, a certaln amount o f the water by dry heat or other well known processes. will be left in the compartment 1n the upper v,' And vthe invention also aims to generally portion of the filter, such liquid then returnimprove this class of devices and render ing throughthe filter and flowing 1n a 't .them more useful and commercially desirdownward dlrection .sogas to pass backable. wardly through the filtermg materials and With these and other objects in view as flow out, through' the bottom ofthe Ifilter will more fully appear as the description casing, whereby the filter-will cleanse ltself proceeds, the invention .consists in certain of the lmpurities. constructions, arrangements and the combi- Referring now to the drawing for the devnations of the parts, as I shall herein :er tailed disclosure of oneV embodiment of my 0 morev fully describe and claim. invention, the numeral 1 deslgnates a casing For a full understandingl of the inven-v which is preferably of non-oxldlzable mate-4 tion, reference is to be had to the following rial or some substance or material which is description and accompanying drawing in coated with 'a' sulta-ble non-oxldlzable surwhich,

face. The casing may .be of any desired Figure l is a side elevation of a filter conshape and size and is preferablyjof c lin# structed'in accordance with my invention.

"dricaL form, 'being provided on its int ior `OP t; mentahdgtstesgnated 15, where y-the upthereof, with any desired number foflugs 2 which are arranged to detachably support.

within the casing, any desired number of fil- 5' tering boxes arranged infsuperposed relation to each ther, and of a detailed con# struction which I shall hereinafterfully set forth. A

The bottomof the Casin 1 is formed .with an opening, the wall of w ich is defined by a' sediment, chamber collar .4 y.projecting- 4 downwardly from said. opening anddesigned for detachable engagement by a thimb'le of inverted cone-shape, as clearly illustrated in4 Figs.' land 2,said thimble being formed with a preferably permanently open vent orificev 6. The` side wall of the casingl lgis formed, preferably near or at the bottom thereof, with a reeeivin'gopening 7 in which one end of a' rain-,waiter supply pipe 7 is se; cured, the upper end of'said pipe being secured in any desired Way to a down spout `or eavesjtrough, these parts'being omitted from the drawing in the presenty instance, as they Cvention. lVithin the bottom of the casing 1 and disposed between the inlet ope'ning 7 and the bottom opening ofthe casing,^is a p .barrier 8 which is designed to. interceptr the sediment that flows in with -the first stream iof water of a shower,.so thatsuch sediment will be caused to flow out through" the bottom opening of the'casing and the vent orificef.

EachV of the lterin signed to hold the filtering medium through which the water is designed to percolatein an upward direction, is formed'ln thepresent instance ofi a boxwhich includes a cylin- -`40 drical body portion 3 formedattop and bottom with an l'inwardl extendingannular ,flange 3", and also inc udes a topscreen 3 and a bottomscreen 3 formed of woven wire downwardly projecting reinforcing collar 1 of any .Y desired' or suitable mesh.. `Each screenrinclu'des a marginal ring 3", said rings being. preferably of a `width `13o-extensive with the r width ortion', the lower screen 8 being designed 1 to be ,directly supported by the lower annular ajige-of the ody portion 3, whilethe -1 upper screen is'inserted underneath the up- Fpermost'flan e ofthe 'body portion and rests upon and ho dsproperly inlplac'e the interposed filterin'llpatriahsuch. as sand, gravel,

56 qr the-like.. y ferably,'e ach'screen is reinforced by intersecting' cross brace'sl-i, and

' the upper screen of each' filtering 'part ent 'is' 1 provided with `Handles '16 secu to vfits fcrossed braces? whereby' 4the :up-

soreenofeach .box orcompartme'nt may .60' r g Ei;easily"removedv or'appledaf'. In the preannnlar'ang'e 3""of each"hody ph fon 3 is Zformed withtwo diametricall falegof'thernselvesA form no part of my ing compartments de- A the casing.

of the flanges "of the body` .thimble 5. If -desired, .a reinforcing-l in reinforcing the parts box' or .com- 'draulic pressureper 'screen may be easilylplaced in position l or removedtherefrom, when required. f a

While it islto be understood -that my in-L vention is not limited to any. particular num- '7o vkind, of

ber ofthe vfiltering vboxes .or or .to any size'lthereof, rorto'any filtering material, Ihavefindicated in the present instance, that the' lowermost box or compartment, is intended to" -hold coarse vel; the 'next compartment above is intended to j compartments,

what finer than thatinfthe lowermost box; the next compartment above isintended to hold charcoal, and the u permdst comparthold charcoal; the next compartment above is intended to. hold gravel some! ment is intended t hold A* e gravel or coarse Y sand.-A

- Fromas muchof the description as has v preceded in'connection with the accompany` ing drawing, it will be understood that the various boxes, beforebeing laced in the casing 1, may be easily fill/ed wlth the desired filtering substance or material, the lower screens 3c being first placed imposition, the

gravel, charcoal, Sand,-or. the like being then placed upon the screen 39 and the' box approximately filled, being then slipped in place by insertion through-thev segmental. openings that are formed in the u per ange 3*. The first box and the upper screen 3? in the series,"a er vthe boxes,have all 'been filled, is` .placed with'n the casing, resting upon the llugs 2, and 'the .other boxes are then placed one on top of the other, the partsbeing so proportioned that a chamber. 9 will be formed between the uppermost box of -the series and the preferably removable top 12 of The outiow pipelO has,` its receiving end secured in an opening 11 formed inthe side of the casing,.preferably near the top of the compartmentvlor chamber 9, as y best illustratedin Fig. 2.-

The ,thimble v5 which is inserted in the ofthe casing 1 1s preferably secured'to said collar in a' detachable manner,- whereby it may be easily removed and the'parts readily cleansed, the means for this detachable connection in the present :instance consisting of pins or-rivets .19 rojecting inwardly from the collar 4: and vesignedto enter in-v as against the hy- In the practical use vof my improved filter,

the irstiwater owingyinto the casing. 1 at the beginning of a shower, will, asis vmani-r festfha'vewith itvconsiderable sediment.

This will be directed by the barrier 8 down barrier deecting the heavier particlesA into the vone and such particles or sediment bes`v `into the invertedcone-shaped thimble 5the ing at once removed through the permanent vent orice 6.l 'When the in iow exceeds the Copies of this patent may-be obtained for five oents each, by l f Washington, D. C.

receptacle. When the inflow ceases, the` water in the chamber 9, and held within rthe variousl'tering boxes, will naturally flow down through said" boxes and iiow off throughthe vent orifice 6, bringing With it whateversediment may have been held by the up currentagainst the underfsurface of the filtering material, vwhereby the entire process of cleaning the filter will bepractically an automatic one.` Obviously, should it at any time become necessary `to replenish' the filtering 'material or to cleanse thefsame or the other parts of the apparatus, this may be easly`accomplishedby first the top or cap l2 of the'casing and taking out the filtering boxes or compartments, one after the other, the upper screens' 3"y .,beng easily removed by. manipulating the-hfaiiles` 16 and the J'iltering material' being`-thei'eby partment's are all detachable from"v veach other, it is evident that the operation of cleaning the filtering material by washing'- it or by dry sterilization,- may be accomplished Y .with facility.

removingv trates what I believe to be the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited there-v by, butthat various changes may be madein the construction, arrangement and propere'v tions of the parts without departing from the scope of the invention,- asde'flnedin the appended claim. J y

What I claim isz- A filter of the character described, includ-i ing a casingprovided with abottom open# ing and a depending collar defining the wall vof said Vopening and projecting downwardly therefrom, -an inverted cone-shaped 'thimble having a detachablel connection withsaid 1 .,50 4 `bottom of 'thecasingbeing formed Withav barrier and. with an opening, the barrier bel fing interposed between said openings, filter--Y collar and formed with a vent4 orifice, the` l`ingnriatea'l held in saidcasing and spaced atl the bottom thereof abovethe barrier and v the saidcpenings, the casing bem formed at'its top with anoutlet opening a ,ove and ini.,spaced?.'relationy to the top ofthe While the accompanying drawing illusfiltering` material, f and @detachable cap for the 'up-y per end of the. casing.

signature'in vthe presence of two witnesses- J. E. Morvan; M. GLASGOW.

addressing 'the Commissioner Iet' 

